My name is Emily Elizabeth Adder
by padfootlover4eva
Summary: A fan of the Harry Potter books is pulled into the time of the Marauders to change what happens, but she's not a normal girl. She's a Mage, a powerful witch on a different level than everyone else. Will Hogwarts survive? no, not a mage from other books
1. Chapter 1

I own nothing! Please don't sue!

Chapter one: Mysterious friends and strange introductions

My name is Emily Elizabeth Adder, but that's not my real name. My name is Rachel Ann Adams, but no one has called me that in a long time. I'm called Em, Love, Fire-eyes, but only by my friends. I'm called Freak, Hag, Monster, but only by my enemies. I'm a girl. I'm an animagus. I'm a mage. I'm a muggleborn. I'm a witch. I was never normal.

My story starts in my living room on a Saturday morning, back when I was still called Rachel. I was in my pajamas, reading my favorite book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, for the millionth time, when there was a knock on the door. When I asked who was there, no one answered. I carefully pulled the door open (I was home alone) and saw a letter lying on the doorstep with a small stuffed dog. I picked up the letter first. "A Friend" was all it said. Then I bent down to pick up the dog. The second I touched it, the world started spinning. I felt a hook pull behind my navel, just like traveling by portkey in the Harry Potter books. I landed sprawled out on the floor of an office. At least, I thought it was an office. There was a desk, and lots of books. Everything else was covered in strange looking artifacts. Weird trinkets that looked better suited to fantasy than reality. Then someone spoke.

"Ah yes, Miss Adder. I've been expecting you." I turned around slowly and saw an old man with a long grey beard and twinkling eyes. No way.

"Uh…hi," was my eloquent response, "where am I? What's going on?"

"You are in my office, Miss Adder, and as for what's going on," he sighed, "I'm afraid I do not know. There is this, however. It was left for you." He pulled out a letter and handed it to me. "If you have any questions, feel free to ask. I will remain here.

I opened the letter, looking at him just a little suspiciously, (Who was he? Why did he keep calling me "Adder"? Could it really be…?) But I forgot about him when I started reading.

_Rachel,_

_I'm sorry to have pulled you away so young, but I didn't have a choice. You read the Harry Potter books, you know what happens, and you have to stop it. You need to find a way to change the course of time without destroying the world or sacrificing the world to Voldemort. It will be hard, but not impossible. For now, observe and learn. Enjoy your time at Hogwarts. Don't let anyone know why your there. Do NOT act until after school. This gives you time to assimilate and come up with a plan. You should also know why you were the one chosen. You are a mage. It means you are stronger than others, your magic will not be contained in a wand, but it also means some will come after you. You were sent away for your own protection. Power is dangerous. You must prepare._

_Good luck,_

_A Friend_

_Ps: your new name will be Emily Elizabeth Adder. Someone from your old life could look up your name and find out the truth. Or, worse, where you are._

Well, that explained the name, at least, along with what I was doing here. And there was that friend again. Did I want this person as a friend? I looked up. There was no way! But I found myself praying that _maybe_ it was true.

"Are you…Dumbledore?" I asked nervously.

"Why yes, I am. I'm surprised you know me. Your accent tells me you are not from here. Do you wish to tell me where you are from?" I stared at him in amazement. It was really him! He was just like the books describe him. Tall, crooked nosed, silver bearded, and with piercing eyes that twinkled in merriment. I blushed as I realized I was staring and forced myself to say something.

"Um…yeah?" real smooth, huh? "I mean yes. I'm from the states. I live on the coast. The west one." I winced. I sounded like an idiot. But I couldn't help it. Here he was, the real Albus Dumbledore! What would you have done? He seemed amused by my reaction, but politely declined to comment.

"Your things are in the hall way, but we must decide what to do with you before you settle in. You see, here at Hogwarts, students are sorted into four houses, where they will be rooming and spending much of their time. These houses are-"

"Ravenclaw, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin." I cut him off. I was too excited to sit and listen to things I already knew, and I've never been good at sitting still in the first place. He smiled, eyes twinkling curiously.

"Yes, that's right. You missed the sorting, (it was last night) so I will sort you here. I suppose you would not wish to be sorted with first years in any case." He took down and old, beat-up hat which I could only assume was the Sorting Hat. Holy cow! It was real!

"Um…" there was that intelligence again. He put the hat on my head and all thoughts fled. I didn't feel very brave, ambitious, smart, or hard-working. I just felt…numb. The only thing running through my head was 'please talk, don't be a trick, don't be fake, please, please talk.' And it did. It really _did_.

"Ah, a disbeliever." It commented, sounding amused. I squeaked. Yes, a real squeak, like in the movies. I really am pathetic.

"Breathe, Miss Adder." Dumbledore advised kindly. I did, and it helped, but I was still pretty excited. Scratch that, I was way past the 'I can now die happy' stage.

"Well," the hat remarked, "you are most certainly enthusiastic, but I'm afraid there is no house for enthusiasm. You know quite a bit, perhaps more than you should, in fact. The future is a delicate thing, Emily Adder. Be wary of it. As for your house, anyone brash and foolish enough to mess with time belongs in,"

"GRYFFINDOR!" it said aloud. Dumbledore smiled at me.

"Well then, I'll just call Professor McGonagall to come fetch you shall I? She is the head of Gryffindor house." He put the hat away and started to leave, but I jumped up. I had finally gotten over my shock, and now I wanted some answers.

"Wait!" I cried, "What did it mean, I'm a Mage? What luggage? How am I supposed to catch up? I…" I sighed. I couldn't just ask him if it was Harry or his parents here. He'd look at me like I was insane. I probably was, too. He was still smiling.

"Well, I was wondering when the questions would start. A Mage is a particularly powerful witch or wizard. There haven't been any for centuries. Normally, one would need a wand to focus enough power into a spell, but you have enough strength to perform even the most difficult spells without one. As a matter of fact, I believe Mages even have trouble with wands. They break from the strain of that much raw energy. The older ones are revered, but the younger ones are slightly less predictable, due to the difficulty of controlling this magic, and have been branded as dangerous, which is why your status as a young Mage must remain a secret. You must work hard to control your emotions, which control your magic. Furthermore, your friend dropped off your belongings for you. It is all outside. As for catching up, you will be given extra course books to read, and will meet with Professor McGonagall at the end of each month so she may help you with what you are learning. Also, I am sure none of the teachers would object to you asking for assistance. You will be fine," he promised. Then he looked down at his watch. "Breakfast is starting. It will be easier to bring you down and introduce you to one of the Gryffindor prefects. They will show you around. You may want to change first, though."

I looked down. I was still in my pajamas! How embarrassing is that! I blushed again, nodding. He then led me out of his office and down the hall, levitated a trunk into a bathroom, and left me to change. I opened it cautiously, but I needn't have worried. It had all of my favorite clothes, some new ones I absolutely adored, uniforms, school supplies, and, to keep up pretenses, a fake wand. It was hot outside, so I quickly pulled on some paint splattered jean shorts, a red tank top from Disneyland that said princess on it with a crowned skull below (from the pirate ride, my favorite), a pair of new black shoes with skulls on the heels and red laces (I really like pirates), and pulled my hair into a ponytail with a red hair tie. When I came out, Dumbledore seemed amused, but he didn't comment, so I ignored it. He led me down to the Great Hall (a difficult feat, since I kept stopping to stare at things), and from there, to the front by the teacher's table. As I went in, I realized why Dumbledore was amused. I stood out like a sore thumb. Looking around, I didn't see a single other pair of shorts. Their clothes were relatively quiet, certainly no skulls. They all had sleeves too. Not a tank top in sight. Plus, I'd forgotten about my very decorative blue and purple nails I'd painted out of boredom a few days prior. They had squiggles, hearts, stars, and so on. Any nails painted here were solid and a single color. I guessed it must be and American thing to use more than one, or maybe a muggle thing. Who knew? In any case, everyone was staring at me. It wasn't helped much by Dumbledore's speech. All he said was that I was new, I was in Gryffindor, and that they must be kind to me. He didn't even tell them my name. Useful huh? Oh well.

I cautiously sat down in the seat he pointed out to me. Everyone's staring was really freaking me out. Then the person to my right introduced himself and I almost had a heart-attack.

"Hi, I'm Remus Lupin."


	2. Chapter 2

Again, I own nothing. It's all J.K.R.'s

Chapter two: Strange pranks and stranger introductions

I zoned out for most of breakfast. I nodded when I should, I smiled when it was expected, but didn't say a single word. Not one. I couldn't. I mean, here I was, eating with a kid whose future I knew and was trying to change. Not only that, but I had only read about him as an adult, so I didn't really know what to expect from him as a kid. He was nice. Much more laid back than he was in the book. Or would be. Or something. He was mostly talking to the girl across from him, which gave me another shock. She had red hair and green eyes. Lily Potter. Of course, here she was Lily Evans, which just made things that much weirder. They seemed to realize I was a bit out of it, though they probably thought it was from my surroundings, so they let me be. I finally 'woke up' to a loud bang by the doors and loud laughter from the rest of the students. I didn't really understand the joke at first. It was just a girl. Albeit, a rather ugly girl, but still. Then she spoke.

"POTTER!" Now I understood! It was a boy's voice that was yelling. He seemed to realize that James Potter wasn't in the room, because he then turned on Remus, who was stifling his laughter in his hands.

"WHERE IS HE LUPIN? I KNOW YOU KNOW AND WHEN I FIND HIM I'LL-"

"I don't know where he is, Snape. I suggest you look elsewhere, as he is obviously not here," Remus cut him off. Snape stormed out. Snape. SNAPE! This was, without a doubt, the craziest day of my life. And just when I thought it couldn't get any weirder, two boys whom I could only assume were Sirius Black and James Potter walked in. They were laughing and nudging each other so much that they didn't even notice me. I know this because Sirius, assuming my seat was empty, sat on me.

"Bloody hell!" he yelped, jumping up and whirling around to face me, "Who are you?" I opened my mouth to answer, but Remus beat me to it.

"Honestly, Sirius, you should pay attention once in a while. Then maybe you wouldn't sit on strangers." Then he turned to me, "You'll have to excuse my friend. He's completely bonkers." I laughed, and went to reply, but was, once again, cut off.

"But who is she, Remy?" Sirius whined.

"She's a transfer, and if you were here on time, you would know that, now sit down, you're attracting attention." Lily snapped. I looked curiously to James, realizing he hadn't spoken yet, and noticed he was staring at Lily. Aww! How cute! She, however, didn't seem to think so, because when she noticed, she glared at him.

Sirius pulled James down onto the bench, then squeezed in between Remus and me.

"But why is she dressed so funny?" He asked. My mouth dropped open in shock. Wow, there goes my self esteem.

"Sirius!" Remus reprimanded, "Some subtlety would be nice! We don't even know where she's from, who knows how they dress where she lives."

"So, where are you from, then?" Sirius asked me. But yet again I was interrupted. Boy, I just couldn't get a word in edgewise today!

"Hey, guys!" a chubby looking boy panted, running up to them, "McGonagall hand out the schedules yet?"

"No, looks like she's doing that now." Remus replied, pointing down the table. Sure enough, a strict looking woman with a tight bun was handing out little pieces of paper, sorry, parchment, to the students. I only half noticed though. Peter. He looked so innocent. Sweet, almost. How could this boy, who looked like he could be beaten up by a child, betray his best friends, sentencing them to death? It just didn't make sense. And my reasoning skills were most defiantly NOT helped by the fact that Sirius was still staring at me.

"What?" I asked defiantly. They all turned to look at me now. "Sorry, but your friend here's kind of freaking me out. He's staring at me."

"I'm just wondering where you're from!" Sirius protested, as the others snickered lightly, "You haven't even told us your name!"

"Emily," I supplied, surprised at how easily the new name came forward, "I'm from the states. I just transferred here."

"You're from the states, huh? And do they all dress like that there, or are you just used to standing out?" Sirius asked with a smirk.

"I'll have you know this is relatively quiet compared to some people!" I said haughtily, but it was ruined by the laughter in my voice. He obviously wasn't impressed.

"_Relatively_ being the operative word." He replied with a smirk.

"Sirius!" Remus scolded, "What's wrong with you? Be nice!" He wasn't taking it to seriously though. Everyone else was laughing. I really didn't mind.

"Miss Adder?" a voice asked from behind me. I nodded. "My name is Professor McGonagall, and I'm the head of Gryffindor house. If you could come with me, I will discuss your situation with you. Mister Lupin, if you would, please finish passing these out." Remus nodded, and I followed McGonagall out. She took me to her classroom, gave me my schedule and directions to the classes, and discussed the monthly meetings we would have. She gave me my extra textbooks as well. I would have to put in three hours a night for that alone to catch up! I decided to do it after curfew though, because I still wanted to experience everything else too. My first class was potions, so I gathered my stuff and left when we were done. As I rounded the corner, I ran into someone and papers went flying everywhere.

"Oh! Oh god, I'm so sorry! I didn't see you! Are you okay?" I cried.

"Yes, I'm fine." A boy who looked slightly familiar stood over me as I scrambled to pick up our papers.

"You could help." I told him, separating my papers from his.

"I could," he mused, smirking, "but you're doing _such_ a good job."

"Thanks. Really, I'm so proud." I deadpanned, handing him back his papers. He laughed.

"You're the new girl, right?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm Emily." I supplied.

"Regulus." Oh God. Regulus, as in Regulus Black? Holy cow! I smiled to cover up my surprise, but I couldn't really hide my sudden nervousness. I hadn't read much about Regulus, but I was pretty sure he wouldn't like me much. It was a problem because when I get nervous, I babble. I don't even just babble, I babble so fast that no one can ever understand me.

"Well,itsreallynicetomeetyou,I'msorryIknockeddownyourpapers,Iwasjustonmywaytoclass,andI didn'tknowtheway,and-"

"Slow down, I don't bite!" he laughed, "no doubt the Gryffindors have already been filling your head with horror stories, but not all Slytherins are spawns of Satin." I laughed. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad. He actually seemed nice. He even showed me to the potions classroom. It was just as J.K.R. described it, down to the portly man at the front. I'd forgotten Slughorn would be teaching potions. He was interesting. We were making the Draught of the Living Death that day, and he came over and helped me while the other students worked. We had decided to say that my old school had simply been behind, and I was catching up. It was true enough, and it kept other students from asking questions. Some of the Slytherins were nasty about it, but Regulus was always available to help me out. Apparently, he was also friends with Severus Snape, because that's how we met on my second day. I had asked Regulus for help with my potion, and he had gotten stuck too. He left for about twenty minutes, and came back with Severus.

"Hello," I said cautiously.

"This is why you dragged me down here? To meet your new friend? I really don't have time for this Regulus, I-"

"We need help with a potion, Sev. I wouldn't interrupt you for nothing. And anyway, it was just homework. You have all afternoon to do it!" Severus sighed, and then turned to me.

"What is it?" he asked, resignedly. I raised an eyebrow.

"Forget it, Reg, if mister high and mighty doesn't have time for the poor, little new girl, then I can figure this out on my own." I'm pretty stubborn sometimes, and I don't like being belittled. Now Severus rolled his eyes.

"Just tell me what you need help with."

"I don't need your help."

"Then why did you call me down here?"

"I didn't, Regulus did."

"Then why did he call me down here?"

"I don't know, why don't you ask him?"

"Just tell me already!"

"Say please." He paused, looking shocked, then smirked at me. I smiled innocently back.

"Please." He conceded. I laughed, and then showed him where we were stuck. It turns out he's actually pretty easy to get along with. We were even friends by the end of the day. And that's how it went for about three weeks. The Marauders did their own thing, so I mostly stayed to myself if I wasn't with Regulus or Severus. I was slow with some things, like transfiguration, but I could mostly figure everything out pretty quickly. I was enjoying the classes, and, after spending some time in the library, even figured out how to get my I-pod working (I practically live off of my music). It was a good enough routine, and it worked for a while. Then I messed up.


	3. Chapter 3

Thanks for the reviews! I'm glad you like it!

It's JKR's world. Sadly, I don't own any of it.

Chapter three: Mistakes and New Friendships

It was a Friday, the day I messed up. Until that day, everyone, including the Marauders mostly left me alone. I didn't even know most of the girls in my dorm room, though I did know Lily. They stayed to themselves, and I stayed to myself. It was simple, uncomplicated. But on this day, the Marauders decided to prank the new girl. It would have been innocent enough, if it wasn't me. They thought it would be funny to charm some paint to rain down on my head, and some glitter to surround me. It really wasn't that mean or anything. And better yet, they decided to do it in a crowded hall. I was walking down the hallway, when the charmed paint rained down. It was mostly the shock that made me throw my hands up and yelp a shielding charm. And the paint didn't touch me. The same thing happened with the glitter a second later. Everyone looked shocked.

"How did you do that?" Sirius demanded.

"Do what?" I asked innocently. They weren't fooled.

"Stop the paint!" exclaimed James, "You didn't even have your wand out!" Uh-oh.

"Of course I did, don't be silly." I tried. That didn't work either.

"No, you didn't, because I snatched your wand in charms class." Remus informed me, and the bystanders started muttering. Great! Now what?

"Uh…no you didn't?" it was a weak try, but I had to say something. I didn't expect them to believe it though.

"Yeah, I did. Tell us how you did that." Remus insisted, holding out the wand as proof. I snatched it from him before anyone else could see it.

"It's none of your business, and you can't prove anything, so leave me alone." I hissed.

"What?" Sirius asked, shocked. Apparently he hadn't considered the idea of me hiding something.

"Sorry, let me translate, 'bugger off!'" I said. I really hadn't meant to be that mean about it, but being defensive makes me a little bit easy to upset. Just a little bit. I mean, Dumbledore had said people would be scared of me. What if they got scared, and told their parents? I'd be kicked out! No one else had seen that Remus had the wand. I had to keep it that way. I turned to leave, but Remus grabbed my arm.

"It's alright, we won't say anything," he promised in a low voice, "just tell us what's wrong."

"Nothing's wrong!" I insisted. Then I realized I was shouting. I took a deep breath and tried again. "Nothing's wrong. Everything's fine. Really." They looked doubtful.

"Then how did you stop the paint?" Sirius asked again. I groaned.

"She's a freak, that's how!" one girl yelled. She was one of the other girls from my dorm. One of the ones Lily didn't like very much, "She's always weird like this, dressing funny, leaving strange things everywhere, dancing to music no one else can hear. She's a freak!"

"Shut up Umbridge, let her explain." James snapped. Well, how do I explain after that? I thought Remus didn't know her, but apparently they went to school together. I stared for a few seconds, and then forced myself to turn back to Remus.

"I have nothing to say. I don't need to explain anything. My wand's right here." I made a show of holding it out for the crowd to see, and then muttered to Remus, "Meet me by the charms classroom." I turned, and walked away. The crowd dispersed, disappointed, and I went to the classroom. Sure enough, Remus, Sirius, and James showed up a minute later. I don't really know where Peter was that day. He was not with his friends though. I had decided to explain the Mage part to them. It took awhile, but we somehow got through it. They seemed pretty shocked, to say the least.

"You're a real Mage?" James asked with wide eyes. Apparently he knew what that meant. I nodded.

"Wow! That's brilliant! Think of what we could pull off with a Mage helping out!" Sirius said, excitedly, ever the blunt one. The rest of us rolled our eyes.

"Thanks," I said sarcastically, "Way to make me feel better."

"Aw, I didn't mean it like that!" Sirius said, smiling.

"No, of course you didn't," I was really stuck on the sarcasm today.

"Really!" he insisted, "I just meant that it would be brilliant if you decided to help us out with a few things."

"A few thing?" I asked. Oh boy, here we go.

"Yeah!" now James was all worked up to, "Think of what we could do! I mean, we know the school better than anyone, and you could probably perform tons of spells without even getting near whatever we're trying to charm! Why, with your help we could pull off the greatest pranks Hogwarts has ever seen!" Remus groaned, and I raised an eyebrow.

"I hate to burst your bubble, but I barely know any spells. I'm still struggling with first year materials. And anyway, why would I help even if I could? I don't have any particular problems with your pranks, but that does _not_ mean I want to be known as 'that girl who helps the infamous Marauders'." They looked surprised.

"Well," Sirius told me, "we'd help you with the spells. It's really not a problem. And anyway, you wouldn't be just 'that girl' you'd be one of us. We didn't expect a lackey or anything. We were asking if you wanted to be our…what's the word Remus? The really good one you used on us this morning?"

"Cohort," Remus supplied with a smirk.

"Yeah, that's the one! You'd be our cohort." Sirius smiled at me. I was shocked, to say the least. Their only reaction to me being a dangerously powerful, untrained Mage was to ask if I wanted to help them with their pranks. Then again, they also hung out with werewolves and half-giants. Maybe their perceptions of danger were a little skewed.

"All right, boys. You teach me the spells, and I'll do it." WHAT!? I must have been COMPLETELY out of my mind! I was messing with these boy's lives, and now I wanted to become friends with them? What would that accomplish? Nothing besides emotional attachments I really couldn't afford! But it felt kind of nice, not having to keep this from them. And anyway, how was I supposed to change their lives if I didn't know them? And this _would_ be the adventure I had been waiting my whole life for. But that's not the point. The point is I agreed to help them, and they agree to help me. Severus wasn't too happy with this arrangement, but he didn't complain more than the once, unless you count harmless jabs here and there. I really hadn't expected him and Regulus to be so nice. And now I spent some time with the Marauders too, which was loads of fun. They really put me through my paces though! I learned more spells from them than I did from some of my classes, and they didn't accept failure as an option. If I didn't get it the first time, there _would_ be a next time. I also studied them all as much as I could. Remus was pretty relaxed. I suppose the war must have made him a little more rule abiding, because he pulled just as many stunts as the others. He was just smart enough not to get caught most of the time. For instance, there was this one time when they turned the whole schools hair Gryffindor colors and Remus was the only one to make his spells untraceable. Sometimes I swear the other two enjoy getting caught. James was funny. He always had a joke on hand when things got quiet. He also knew when to stop joking, like when he found a first year crying in the hallway. She had gotten lost, and he helped her back to her dorm. Sirius was…well, Sirius was Sirius. I didn't really know what to make of him at first. He wasn't as arrogant as the books made him out to be, but he must have been twice as mental. He was always doing crazy things. Streaking the field at a Gryffindor versus Slytherin Quidditch match, for example. As for Peter, he wasn't around much. Apparently this was unusual for him, but the other three felt it important not to pry. They worried about him being so shy sometimes, though they would never admit it. I was just happy I didn't have to deal with him too often.

And so life went on. I did look into Umbridge though. It was the one and only Dolores Umbridge. It was completely unbelievable. First, I end up in Hogwarts, then I become friends with the supposed bad guys before the good guys, then I find out the evil toad was here, and out of the people that I had really wanted to meet, the only one I wasn't friends with was the only girl. Lily and I didn't argue or anything, but we didn't interact much. We greeted each other and said goodnight, but there wasn't really much interaction otherwise. _That_ was about to change.


	4. Chapter 4

Sorry this took so long. SAT's, AP's, and projects, oh my!

I own nothing, promise.

Chapter Four: Exploding Potions and Spontaneous Lies

I was out on the Quidditch pitch one morning looking around. I had seen my first game the night before and was really excited to get in the air. I had been so hyper the night before, jumping up and down and babbling about the game, that James had laughingly agreed to teach me how to fly. He was supposed to be out here already, but instead a sputtering, red faced Peter came jogging up to me.

"J-James and R-Remus w-wanted me to-" he cut off, laughing, and gestured for me to follow him. He took me to the same secret passage way where Harry left his cloak in the book, said the password, and led me inside. There were three girls wearing misshapen clothes standing directly inside, arguing. They looked vaguely familiar.

"You brought Emily?" one of them groaned.

"Who else would have helped?" another argued reasonably.

"Sorry," I interrupted, confused, "helped with what, exactly?" All of them stared at me. Apparently, it was obvious. It was then that I noticed why they looked so familiar. Oh my god! I burst out laughing.

"What did you do?" I giggled. They all grimaced.

"We made the mistake of letting Remus try a potion." Sirius said bitterly. That's right. The three girls were Sirius, Remus, and James.

"It exploded." James added.

"Violently." Sirius put in.

"You have to go to Dumbledore." I told them, but they just sighed.

"We did," Remus explained, "but the antidote takes a month. Professor Slughorn is going to make it for us because it's a very difficult potion. He has no idea how I managed to mess up my potion so badly I made a more difficult potion than I was making in the first place, but apparently it's possible. Professor Dumbledore says we need to act like exchange students until Professor Slughorn fixes us, but we don't know how to act like girls."

"And I'm supposed to help?" I was already notorious for dressing, acting, and eating like one of the guys.

"I don't know! We have nowhere else to turn." moaned James piteously. Hmmm.

"Stay here and I'll be right back!" I told them. Twenty minutes later I reentered the passageway with Lily in tow. James cursed and everyone else chuckled. Well, everyone except for Lily, who was laughing so hard her face had turned bright red.

"It isn't funny!" Sirius whined, but that only made her laugh harder. She couldn't even breathe for what seemed like twenty minutes.

"Come on Lily, we really need your help here." I told her once she finally calmed down.

"Well, alright, but only because I want to know what happens." She conceded, magically turning the room into a changing room. This was about the time that Peter, able to do nothing else and unwilling to watch what he called a "girly little make-over", fled the room.

We went to work transforming them into real girls. We decided to start with James, since it would be the most fun. We gave him a reasonable, patterned blue skirt and long sleeved white shirt. We brushed out his hair, which was identical to his normal hair except down to his waist, and tied back the top into a half ponytail. Lily wanted to put him in heels, but we felt that might give us away because when James tried walking in them, he fell flat on his face. We decided on sneakers instead.

Next we turned to Sirius. He had a pretty impressive figure. Apparently he would have kept his amazing metabolism as a girl, because he was just as skinny as always, but now with generous curves. He would be wearing a purple sun dress, which looked pretty good on him. He couldn't really walk in heels either so we gave him sandals to wear. His hair was much shorter than the others, about an inch below his shoulder blade, and he made a pretty girl, once we tied it into a high ponytail.

Then we changed Remus. As a girl, he was tall and thin, but not disgustingly so. We gave him short shorts and a dark red, tight sleeved top. It clung to him appropriately and accentuated the few curves he had. It really did look good on him. He also got sneakers, because Lily had given up on the heels. Finally, we brushed back his hair, which was almost as long as James' was, and braided it down his back.

We gave all three earrings, though only Sirius got a necklace, and Remus got the only bracelet. As we worked, we showed them how to stand, how to walk, and how to talk. The walking was particularly fun because Lily and I made them practice with books on their heads at first, just for laughs. We had to stop when Sirius got frustrated and through the book at a mirror. After that, we stuck to just walking around in circles.

When we were finally done, Sirius took one look in the mirror and blurted out, "Wow! We're HOT!" needless to say Lily and I were unable to speak for a few minutes.

Once we calmed down we led them up through the common room and into the dorm. The way they looked around you'd think they'd never seen a dorm before. They looked through everything that we'd let them touch. For whatever reason, it seemed to all be strange to them. We settled them in and everything was going fine until the other girls walked in.

"What, more new kids? Is your country that horrible?" Umbridge asked scathingly.

"Well," I answered, "I wrote a letter and told them about you, but they didn't believe me until they saw for themselves how ugly you are." She growled, and Lily sighed.

"We don't know them. They're only here for the week." She supplied.

"What're their names?" asked Mary, one of Umbridge's friends.

"Uh… Rachel, Salina, and…. Jamie. Yeah, that's right." I was so smart.

"Where are they from?" Dang it!

"Uh…"

"Winchester. It's a little school not far away. It's really small, you wouldn't have heard of it before." Lily saved the day.

"Oh, I think I might have heard of it." Mary said uncertainly.

"Well, of course I've heard of it, my uncle went to Winchester!" Katie said snottily. Wow they were dumb.

"Yeah, that's great. Well, we'll just be going now!" I tried. No such luck.

"You can't just hog the new kids, Adder, how about a game of truth or dare to get everyone comfortable?" Umbridge sneered. Dang it!

"Um, that's-"

"Sure," Sirius blurted out. Or should I say Salina? Whatever, it was one of them.

"That sounds fun." James agreed. Jamie. Don't get me started.

"We really should finish showing you three around!" Lily protested. She was thinking along the same lines I was. Truth or dare is always more revealing when it's just girls and neither of us wanted to be playing with three guys listening in. Besides, it could raise some interesting questions about the three new 'girls'.

"Well, we don't want to be rude!" Sirius put in innocently. Stupid git.

"Of course not." I conceded through gritted teeth. This was going to be a nightmare! We all sat down in a circle in the middle of the floor. Lily and I made sure to sit next to two of the marauders each so that we could help them if they needed a lie. Remus, smart boy (girl?) that he is, was starting to get nervous. He sat in the middle, between me and Lily. Sirius was on my right, and James was on Lily's left. The other three girls sat across from us.

"Who wants to go first?" Umbridge asked.

"Oh, I do!" Mary said quickly. I was starting to think they had planned this, which was ridiculous because they didn't know about this until five minutes ago.

"Alright then, go ahead." Umbridge said, like she needed to give permission or something.

"Salina, truth or dare?"


	5. Chapter 5

I don't own any of it.

Thanks for your advice and reviews. It really helps!

Chapter Five: Dangerous Dares and Tricky Truths

"Um…, truth," Sirius decided. Mary thought about it for a bit.

"What's your worst fear?" Mary asked.

"That's easy!" Sirius answered, "Spiders! Their gross and creepy with too many legs!" he made a face to emphasize his point and we all laughed. Sirius pouted.

"All right then, Katie, truth or dare?"

"Er…, truth." Here we go.

"If you had to date one bloke from the entire school, who would it be?" He was having too much fun with this. Katie turned red.

"What does it matter to you, you wouldn't even know who I was talking about!" she snapped.

"Yeah, but they will." Sirius said with a shrug.

"Oh, all right! His name is Ben, Happy now?" We couldn't hear his answer over the laughter. Ben was this really stuck up reedy looking kid. He was a mega-genius and was taking so many classes that he had private classes to fit them all in, so people barely saw him.

"What on earth do you see in him?" I asked.

"He's smart, he's bound to go somewhere in life. I probably wouldn't have to worry about anything ever again." She shrugged. Wow, was that shallow or what?

"Fine then, go on." I told her.

"Rachel, truth or dare?" Katie asked, smirking. Poor Remus looked so nervous now. I think he was starting to see how badly this could go.

"…truth?" it sounded more like a question than an answer, which should have made Katie pleased, but to my surprise, she looked kind of sorry for him. Well, for Rachel at least.

"What's your favorite sweet?" she asked. Everyone stared at her, but she didn't change her mind.

"Chocolate," Remus answered, sounding relieved. I couldn't help but smile. We had discovered that similarity pretty quickly, though it was much safer for him than for me. (Because sugar makes me hyper, not because I'm allergic or anything. That would be torture.)

"Umbridge, truth or dare?" Remus asked haltingly. Maybe if he got nervous enough, he would pretend to be sick and we could all stop playing. Or maybe he would really get sick.

"Dare." She smirked like she was throwing down the gauntlet or something. Gosh I hate her.

"Oh!" Remus sounded surprised, "All right. Er…, I dare you… to…"

"Snog the first bloke you see tomorrow!" Sirius cut in.

"Si-"

"Salina, its Rachel's turn." I cut in. That was close. I couldn't imagine what would have happened if he'd said Sirius.

"Yeah, but it works." James put in. Remus sighed.

"All right then, do that." He told Umbridge. Needless to say she wasn't as amused as the rest of us. Still she agreed. She didn't pick me yet, but I had a feeling she was bidding her time. Instead, she picked James, who said dare, of course, and after that, no one could say truth. We were Gryffindors after all.

James had to jump in the lake, then he made Katie Put ice down her pants, and Katie made Sirius not talk for 10 minutes after giving his next dare (which got applause from those of us who knew who he was) 

Before his 10 minutes of silence, Sirius dared Umbridge to make herself look hideous (not hard) and sing a horrible song, then she made Lily Put tape on her mouth and keep it there until her next go, after she dared Mary to Wear pants on her head for the rest of the game.

Mary then made James sneak out and stand outside alone in the dark for 3 minutes, after which James, taking pity on Lily (She was still waiting for her next turn), dared her to sing her favourite children's song, which turned out to be "Ring Around the Rosie", one even I knew.

Lily made Mary do a cartwheel, and then Mary made me Yodel (that did NOT sound good). I made Katie tell Ben she liked him, and she made Remus do a handstand.

Remus dare Sirius to sing "I'm a Little Tea Pot" with actions (he wasn't bad either) then Sirius dared me to carry him around the room. I made Mary do the can-can, and Mary made Umbridge give Lily a blind make-over.

Then Umbridge smirked and turned to me. Uh-oh.

"Emily, truth or dare?" She asked. Wow, I wonder which would be worse with her. If I said truth, I'd not only be pegged as a chicken, but I'd also have to answer any question she liked. Still, at least then it would stay in this room, unlike the humiliating dare she would likely cook up. I really had no idea why she hated me so much. Either way, I couldn't let her call me a coward.

"Dare." Gulp. She was smirking.

"I dare you to spend an entire hour in the Forbidden Forest." We all stared in shock. That wasn't just a stupid dare, it was dangerous! But I could tell that she wanted me to back down. She wanted me to give up. I was absolutely NOT going to let her think she had won.

"Fine, I'll do it." I know, I'm an idiot, but I couldn't back down. It would mark me as a coward for the rest of my time at Hogwarts. Still, as I marched down there, all I could think is that I might not make it out alive.

I went in as far as I dared, willing the other inhabitants to stay away from me. I was never a very lucky person. The only thing I can say is that I at least lasted the entire hour. Just as I was about to walk out, I heard just about the worst noise you can hear in the forest. Pincers.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHH!" was just about all I could say and think. I ran for my life. Of course, being me, I ran in the wrong direction and ended up even deeper in the forest, but I was half expecting something like that at this point, so I wasn't really surprised when I didn't come bursting out of the forest.

I don't think I've ever run like that, before or since. I was completely terrified. To this day I have no idea how I managed to get out without running into anything. I think I made a circle. It was getting close when I ran out of the trees though, still screaming.

The acromantula stayed in the forest, luckily, so I didn't set it loose on the castle, but I did run in a complete panic all the way back to the dorm, followed by a very confused Mary, who had been sent to make sure I was actually in the forest and not on the grounds.

At the very least, my bursting into the room pale and babbling about giant man-eating spiders effectively ended the game. Lily was completely furious with both Umbridge, for setting the dare, and with herself, for not stopping it. The three 'new girls' were too surprised to be angry. I don't think they expected the game to get as violent as it did. Maybe next time they would listen to their wise guides into the world of girls.

That was mostly the most exciting part of that month, I'm almost sad to say. They actually did listen to us the next time we gave them advice, so nothing else went wrong, though it was a bit awkward to explain the whole 'monthly gift' issue. Apparently, Sirius' parents never explained the birds and the bees to the poor kid, so he ran in to our blessedly empty dorm room one day in tears thinking he was dying. I couldn't even breathe for a good twenty minutes, which only set him off more, but eventually we got through to him.

It was the little things that were important in this month though. For example, the fact that James, without the testosterone drive, finally got a chance to show Lily his true colors, or the fact that we discovered a secret about Lily Evens. She was an evil GENIUS.

Lily had never put any of her plans into action before, but when a sixth year broke a fourth year's heart in front of the entire school, it was Lily who timidly suggested we try a beetle pheromone. He was terrified of beetles (don't ask me how she knew that cause I have no idea), and if we put some of the pheromones on his clothes, they would follow him around for ages. It was completely BRILLIANT!

We sat there for hours watching him scream like a little girl and talking. Turns out Lily actually enjoyed the pranks, she just opposed them being used on her friend. James and Sirius discussed this and the deal was struck. They would stop pranking Snape without permission if Lily would agree to join them in their future exploits.

And so an epic friendship was formed.


	6. Chapter 6

I am so SO sorry! I've been really busy lately, I just didn't have time to write, plus I was having some major writers block. I already have most of the next chapter figured out, so it shouldn't take as long.

I don't own anything, it all belongs to JKR. Enjoy!

Chapter six: Quidditch and Heart Attacks

We thought that things couldn't get any more exciting after our little potions incident, but apparently we were wrong. The day of my second ever Quidditch match (as a spectator of course, I haven't even learned to fly yet!) started out with me, Sirius, and James out on the pitch alone early in the morning. James was finally teaching me how to fly. He figured that he and Sirius, who played beater, could always use the extra practice and I was really anxious to fly.

"I still don't really understand," Sirius told me for what must have been the billionth time, "Why are you so anxious to do this again? I mean, flying is brilliant and all, but I don't think I've ever seen you this excited."

"Well, I've never done it before, and it's only the biggest symbol of real magic ever, and I've always wanted to fly, and it's just exciting so shut up!" I told him, adding on the last bit because he was laughing at me. Granted I was talking pretty fast and jumping up and down like an idiot, but he still didn't have to laugh!

"All right, enough." James said with a smile, "Let's get started…"

He showed me how to get on and how to hold my hands and how to move, Sirius showing off on his broom all the while. After about twenty minutes he finally backed up and told me to kick off. Big mistake.

"YEAAAAHHHHHH!" I screamed, rocketing through the air. I had decided I might as well go all out, since I was flying however many feet in the air without a net anyway, and was flying as fast as the broom would take me. It was, without a doubt, the most amazing, terrifying, adrenaline-filled moment of my life. I felt like I had left everything negative on the ground, and was flying with only the positive aspects of my life. It was incredible.

"EMILY!" I heard faintly. James was frantically trying to get me to come down. Dang it! I flew down to where he and Sirius were waiting anxiously.

"Merlin, Emily! Don't do that!" James sounded faint, which amused me to no end. I'd seen him hang upside down in the last match and here he was, worried because I had gone a little fast.

"I'm fine," I promised him, "that was fun. Can I do it again?" James made such an amazingly horrified face to that that I couldn't help laughing. He really was too much. I could see where his son got that pessimism about other people getting hurt.

"Are you serious Emily? You nearly killed yourself!" James told me.

"Did not! I did it on purpose!" I told him, miffed.

"Oh, so you were _trying_ to give me a heart attack then?" he snapped. I started laughing again.

"Yeah, James, I deliberately flew that fast knowing that the guy who nearly fell off of his broom at the last match would freak out at a little burst of speedy flying. That's exactly what happened." I told him sarcastically, though it was slightly ruined by my giggles. He just rolled his eyes at me, so I turned to Sirius instead.

"Come on, Sirius! Tell him it's alright!" I whined. To my surprise, he shook his head.

"It's dangerous to go that fast when you haven't flown before. You could've fallen off." He told me. Hypocrites. They flew like that all the time, and I doubt their first flights were very calm. Plus, these were the two who were just saying that I should try this impossible and highly volatile potion for some prank not five minutes ago. So apparently, it's ok to get blown up, but not to fall off of a broom. Hypocrites.

"Fine. I'll be more careful." I told them, only slightly peeved-off. Oh well. Maybe I could get my own broom soon, and fly as fast as I wanted. For now I took off around the field at a snail's pace with exaggerated care. James rolled his eyes.

"Not that slow! I only meant slow enough that you aren't about to fall off of the edge." He clarified.

"That's a pretty fine line, James." I told him. He just smirked.

After that it went pretty well. We flew for a couple more hours before I finally got tired and we decided to go back in. I was yawning the entire way inside which, considering how early we had gotten up (early enough that we were heading in to breakfast), was not surprising. It seemed like no time at all before I was out in the stands, getting ready to watch the second game of the season.

We were playing Slytherin today, and I was pretty nervous. I wanted Gryffindor to win, of course, but I was worried it would get violent. Weren't these always the worst games in that respect? And I had friends on both teams. Regulus was playing seeker for the Slytherin team, and Remus was joining Sirius and James on the Gryffindor team as keeper. I was really surprised at my first game to see him out on the field, but he was a really good keeper.

Now, I'm a major fan of Quidditch, but I can never watch a game without fidgeting. The same goes for every other sport, whether I play it or not. I always feel like I should be out there playing instead of watching. My point is that I really couldn't tell you what happened for most of the game. We were winning, I knew that much, but that was about all I knew at that point. Then I heard a horrifying sound, the kind of sound you hear when someone breaks a bone, and the whole crowd gasped.

My head snapped up just in time to see Sirius hit the ground.

And, just like that, time stopped. The entire world grew silent. My stomach felt nauseous, my head was reeling, and my heart must have been going ninety miles a minute. It only took a second. Just one, itsy-bitsy second, to come to the most horrifying conclusion I had ever faced.

He wasn't moving.

Sirius Orion Black, most hyper active person on the planet, wasn't moving. Something was most definitely wrong.

Now, I know what you're thinking, there is no way that anyone could tell that in a second, and you'd normally be right, but that is when you are talking about normal people. A normal person would have sat there for a second to catch their breath, but Sirius is not a normal person. Sirius would have jumped up and taken a bow right away, just to get on the Slytherin's nerves. He's just that kind of guy. So seeing him still like that, even for a second, had me running down to the field, Lily in tow.

By the time we got there, the ref had called a time out (it had been a foul), so James and Remus were already with him.

"What's wrong? Where did he get hit? Is it bad? Is he alright? Why aren't you-" I demanded right away, only stopping when I saw him. It was horrible. He'd gotten hit in the chest, and was having trouble breathing. His chest was lopsided, making it look like he had broken a few ribs, and there was a little blood at the corner of his mouth. His eyes were closed, but he was definitely awake, because his fists were clenching and unclenching at his sides.

I vaguely heard Lily gasp from behind me, and the crowd murmuring even farther away, but it didn't really register. I was shocked. It actually physically _hurt_ to see him so helpless and mangled. I felt like crying, but I couldn't even breathe. I probably would have either been stuck there forever, or passed out at that point, but then I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"Breathe. Everything is going to be fine. We'll take him to the hospital wing and Madam Pomfrey will heal him no problem. It'll be fine. You need to _breathe_, Emily." Remus told me. I focused on his words and was able to take a shaky breath. He nodded at me, looking relieved. Someone, I wasn't really paying attention to who, conjured a stretcher, and we levitated him to the hospital wing.

It seemed like hours that we were stuck outside without news. I couldn't sit still, so I spent the time pacing around the hallway. Remus kept giving me this look, but I just ignored it. Who knew what went through his head half the time? Not me, that's for sure.

Finally, Madam Pomfrey came out to the hallway.

"He's fine," she assured us, "just tired. You can all see him now." I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding. Thank Merlin he was alright! We all filed in and circled his bed. We just stared at him in relief for a few minutes before I surprised everyone, including myself, by jumping onto the bed and hugging the life out of him.

", Iwassoworriedaboutyou! ??" In my own defense, I felt it was a valid question, seeing as I can never tell when I start talking to fast.

"Calm down, Emily, I'm fine." Sirius assured me, still chuckling. Still, he had his arm firmly around my waist, so he must not have minded being worried about all that much. In retrospect, we probably looked pretty silly, since he was still only half sitting and I was half sitting next to him in the last dregs of my panicked hug. He felt warm.

"What happened out there mate? You seemed distracted. That hit wouldn't have been as bad if you had noticed it." James seemed suspicious, but of what, I couldn't tell. Sirius just shrugged.

It wasn't that, it was just a lucky hit on his part. I couldn't see it until it was too late." James seemed appeased, but Remus was still looking at him strangely. I decided the hug was getting awkward, so I pulled away and went to stand by Lily.

"Well, just get better soon, Pa-Sirius." Hmmmmm. Was James about to say Padfoot, perhaps? Me wonders why!

We all said our goodbyes, Lily giving him a hug before I did, and we left (The game had been long, and James and Remus had gotten in from the match a long time ago, so it was already almost curfew). Just as I was about to go up to the dorms with Lily, Remus grabbed my arm.

"A word, if you would." He sounded either mad or excited, I couldn't tell. He waited for the room to be empty before he spoke.

"I saw that, you know." What? Had I done something gross? Or bad?

"What are you talking about?" I asked, confused.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about! What happened today! You know, with Sirius!"

"We all saw the crash, Remus; now please make sense so my head can stop hurting!" I begged. I really needed some sleep at that point.

"You really don't see it, do you? I'm not talking about the crash, Emily, I'm talking about_ you._ You have to have some idea of what I'm talking about!" He sounded exasperated. I raised an eyebrow, completely beyond the ability to understand what he was rambling about. He groaned, then turned around and took a deep breath. He turned back to me and asked something I never expected to hear.

"How long have you been in love with Sirius?"

…

…um…

…

"What?" yeah, I'm smart.

"You heard me, Emily, how long?"

"I have no idea what…" but he gave me this look like, 'think about your answer because you don't want to mess this up' or something, so I actually considered the question. Sirius Black. What could be said about Sirius Black? He was pretty handsome, if I was honest with myself, and funny. He was always there when you needed him. He was kind, smart, and easy going. And he had these eyes, a girl could get lost in his eyes. They were soulful and deep, grey-blue with flecks of green and brown and….

Oh…

I was in love with Sirius Black.

…Dang it!


	7. Chapter 7

Here you go, it wasn't so long a wait this time.

I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters in it.

Chapter Seven: Discussions and Danger

Once I got over the revelation after the Quidditch disaster, which took a while believe me, I went upstairs to bed. To be honest, we had both been exaggerating. I wasn't _in love_ with him; I just really, really liked him. You don't fall in love that fast; it just doesn't happen outside Shakespeare novels, right?

So the extent of it was a major crush, but that was still pretty huge, especially considering the fact that I had never really fallen that hard for a guy. I mean, yeah, I'd had crushes before, but they had never really been that serious, and I had never done anything about it. Heck, I'd never even been kissed before! So, at the time, it didn't really feel like I was exaggerating all that much.

Remus let me go to bed that night without giving him an answer, I think he realized I was in shock, but the very next day he cornered me in the hallway.

"So, have you thought about it?" he asked.

"Thought about what?" I was still kind of hoping he would believe that I didn't like him. He raised an eyebrow at me.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about. Sirius. Have you given anymore thought to what you're going to do about him?" Oh, great. He expected me to do something about it. Brilliant.

"Um, no, I haven't, because there is nothing to think about. I'm not going to do anything." If only he accepted that.

"What do you mean; you're not going to do anything about it. You have to do something! You'll regret it if you don't, trust me. You'll always be wondering what might have been." He looked sad, almost as if he were talking from experience. Apparently he's really good at reading people, because he saw me wondering and added, "My older sister fell in love with this guy, and she never told him. He got married a few years later, and she really regretted it. She's always reminding me to never let that kind of stuff go unsaid."

Oh. I didn't know he had a sister. She kind of has a point…. No. I couldn't. It would put way too much at risk. You can't fall in love with someone when you're trying to save their life. It's dangerous. I was doing the right thing by keeping my mouth shut. I _was_. I had to be.

"I'm not your sister, Remus. Thanks for caring, but I know what I'm doing. I'm here for a reason, and mooning over some guy is definitely not it." With that I turned and headed to dinner.

I could tell he wasn't really satisfied with my answerer because he kept shooting me these looks, but he couldn't say anything with the others sitting right there. Plus, I knew he wouldn't try again that night because it was a full moon. He was leaving to 'visit his ailing mum' after dinner. Apparently she was sick a lot.

I then made the mistake of letting my guard down. Remus was gone for the afternoon, the other three would soon be with him, it promised to be a peaceful afternoon. I don't know who invented that saying, or who they were talking about, but whoever it was that promised me a peaceful afternoon, don't trust them. They lied.

Just as I was settling in to read a nice book, Lily walked past me and out of the common room. After curfew. Great.

I followed here as far as the front door before I started to panic.

"Lily, what are you doing!" the only benefit of that was that she jumped about a foot in the air.

"I'm going out." She told me, already sounding defensive.

"Now? Where on earth could you possibly be going that constitutes being out after curfew? You're a prefect! You're supposed to follow the rules!" I told her desperately.

"Some things are more important. I learned that from you and the boys." She told me. She was opening the door now.

"But how is this important?" I begged. I had to get her to see reason.

"Because," she informed me, "I used to do this all the time with my sister. We used to spend hours watching the full moon. It's so pretty. And we used to gossip and laugh," she sighed, "I haven't done that since I came to school." Great. We were already out on the grounds now, and there was no way I could convince here to change her mind. Now what?

"Lily, there's a reason for that! It's against the rules, and it's dangerous! Who knows what gets out here at night, particularly on the full moon?"

"Well, it's worth the risk. Besides, people sneak out all the time, and no one ever gets caught or hurt."

"Not true! Last time I snuck out here I was nearly eaten by a giant spider, remember?"

"You snuck into the forest. There's a difference. And anyway, how do you know you didn't just imagine it? There aren't supposed to be acromantulas in the forest."

"I didn't imagine it and unless you want something just as bad to happen you'll listen to me and get-"

"AAAAARRRRROOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUU"

I whipped around and came face to face with a very large werewolf. Because my night just couldn't get any worse, we had to be in the one place where we would run into the only werewolf on the grounds.

"Lily, run. Now." I told her as calmly as I could. She hesitated, and then ran, and I was right behind her. We ran as fast as we could. It wasn't enough though. We would have been caught if it weren't for the big, black dog that happened across our path. He appeared out of nowhere and jumped straight over us at the wolf, making both of us scream.

Lily and I kept running, but I had to turn back. It had to be Sirius, and I couldn't just leave him there. I was pretty torn, so I couldn't tell you whether what happened next was good or bad luck. Sirius got hit in the head and turned back into himself. It was probably bad luck.

I ran back and tried to grab him. Unfortunately, the werewolf decided this was a good time to swipe at him, and I instinctually leaned over him. The next second, my back was torn open, and I screamed. Loud. It felt like… I can't even describe it. I guess you wouldn't know unless it happened to you too. Or maybe if you were whipped with the cat o' nine, but I don't think that's legal anymore.

Anyways, I was sure I was toast, but then a stag jumped the werewolf out of nowhere and tackled him. Lily had reached us by this time, and the two of us managed to get Sirius to castle. It only took about five minutes, but it felt much longer. Every second felt like an hour, and I kept thinking I was going to get attacked, but nothing happened.

We got him up to the hospital wing and knocked hard on the door. It took a minute, but then Madame Pomfrey let us in and helped us get Sirius onto one of the beds.

"It's good you got him to me, he might have had a concussion." She told us sternly as she examined him. A second later James burst into the room panting. He looked panicked, and I think he was close to crying when he saw Sirius safe on the bed.

"Will he be alright?" he asked thickly (his voice was thick, not the question).

Madame Pomfrey was now feeding Sirius a potion she had taken out of the cabinet. "Yes, he'll be fine. In fact, he should wake up soon after I give him this." She reassured us. All three of us let out a breath. Peter ran in a second later pulled James to the side, no doubt to tell him something about what had happened. I was really hoping they had gotten the werewolf back into the shrieking shack safely.

The last time Sirius had woken up in the hospital wing, I had started babbling and hugged him. This time, I forced myself to stick with a "thank Merlin" and stayed put. He seemed a bit groggy, but was otherwise fine. After we had established that he was indeed alright, I turned to the matron.

"Do you think you could take a look at my back too?" I asked tentatively. I didn't know how she would react to the scratches. Still, I wasn't prepared for everyone's heads to snap towards me. Madam Pomfrey sat me down and turned me towards the wall, and everyone gasped. I guess in the dark and panic, no one had noticed the scratches before. They were apparently pretty bad though.

"What on earth happened?" she asked faintly. I just shrugged. I couldn't really tell her that I had been trying to save a dog that had suddenly turned into a handsome young man. She pulled the curtains around me, helped me peel off my shirt, cleaned the wounds and bandaged them. Luckily, she had extra shirts down there, so I didn't have to worry about wearing the ruined one.

Once she was finished, she asked again what had happened. I couldn't let everyone find out about the guys, it could be disastrous, and I couldn't blame Lily, it wasn't her fault. There was only one thing to say.

"It was my fault," I told her clearly, "I wanted to go outside, and I didn't know about werewolves. I hadn't learned about them yet. These guys were trying to stop me when the werewolf showed up. It knocked Sirius out before we could get away."

The others were staring at me. They probably thought I was completely mental, but if I claimed it was an accident, and that I hadn't known, maybe we wouldn't get into too much trouble. Little did I know that as a rule the matron didn't report these things, so that students wouldn't try to treat themselves when they were doing something against the rules. Still, I would never regret what I said. It might be different for something illegal.

Madam Pomfrey completely bought it as well. She muttered about poor teaching and reckless children before retreating to her office.

"Why?" James asked.

"It was Remus, wasn't it?" I asked in return, ignoring his question. He nodded, still looking shocked. "That's why. He's my friend, and I'm guessing you three are helping him quite a bit with this. Just don't screw it up and get caught, ok? Poor Remus would never forgive himself, and I don't really want to see you three in Azkaban either."

They nodded again. I don't think they could do much else at the moment. Just then, Madame Pomfrey entered the room again looking for a jar of something. A sudden, terrifying thought entered my head and I turned to her in desperation.

"Please, you can't tell Remus," I begged, "he'll only blame himself and it isn't his fault at all, honest! Who knows what he'll do if he thinks he's hurt me? Just… just please don't tell him, please! It would kill him!" Again, everyone was staring at me in shock. Was I really that weird? Finally, Madame Pomfrey nodded again, promised not to tell, grabbed her jar, and left. I sighed in relief.

"Why?" James asked again. By that point I was pretty sure that the stress had reduced his vocabulary to that single word.

"I told her why. It would only hurt him. Remus is a good person, he doesn't need that." I told him simply.

It was Sirius who broke the silence this time. He shook his head, smiled wearily at me, and said simply, "You are one heck of a witch, Emily."

And all I could do was smile back.


End file.
